Greece remains the most popular destination for Finns, and Finnair is planning direct flights to and from Thessaloniki this year. This was confirmed at the international tourism fair MATKA TRAVEL FAIR 2026, which was successfully held at the Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Centre from 15 to 18 January 2026.
The Greek National Tourism Organization participated with a 60 sq. m. booth, attracting a large number of visitors, where it was announced that the Finnair airline will now offer direct flights from Helsinki to Thessaloniki three times a week during the summer period, starting on May 4, 2026.
The Greek National Tourism Organization (EOT) booth was visited by the Greek Ambassador to Finland, Ms. Natalia Karageorgou (PYA), the First Counselor of the Embassy, Mr. Dimitris Karakostantis, and the Director of the Consular Office, Ms. Efthalia Zacharioudaki (Section A-DLY).
What do Finns prefer
According to data released by the Finnish Tour Operators Association, approximately 595,000 packages were sold for destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa in 2025.
Greece has long been the most popular destination for Finns, a fact that is confirmed by the data for 2025. Nearly 209,000 packages were sent to Greece. The second most popular destination for Finns was Spain, with almost 161,000 packages (a 13.9% decrease compared to 2024).
Co-exhibitors at the Greek National Tourism Organization’s stand at MATKA TRAVEL FAIR 2026 were the Regions of Crete and Central Macedonia, the Tourism Organization of Chalkidiki, the Thessaloniki Tourism Organization, the Pieria Tourism Development and Promotion Organization (P.O.T.A.P.), and the Federation of Finnish-Greek Associations, which has 11 clubs and 460 members, all of whom are Finnish.
On the first day of the Exhibition, January 15, 2026, the Greek National Tourism Organization’s Scandinavian Department participated in B2B meetings at the Organization’s booth with representatives of tourism media, for example. Travel News, Mondo, with tourism professionals and representatives of travel organizations such as Apollo, which offer tourist packages for Greek destinations.
According to the organizers, MATKA 2026 had approximately 1,000 exhibitors from 60 countries, while the number of visitors exceeded 56,400.
Among the exhibitors are T.O.s NLTG (Tjäreborg), Neckermann Nordic, and European Union national tourism organizations (Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovakia) as well as non-EU ones (Thailand, Egypt, Georgia, Japan, Tunisia, etc.).
